WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:01.600 Well, good morning. 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:03.919 Morning. 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:05.599 Come on. 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:07.839 You know I do this every time I come up here. 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:08.960 My name is Matt. 00:00:09.039 --> 00:00:10.640 I'm an associate pastor here. 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:13.039 It is a joy to be with you. 00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:14.960 This second Sunday of Advent. 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:19.359 Advent is one of my favorite times of year on the church calendar. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:23.359 It is specifically set aside as a time to reflect. 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:26.399 It's actually very similar to Lent, if you've observed Lent at all. 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:29.280 It's a time of preparation, time to look. 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:31.920 We're invited to look into the darkness. 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:35.840 That doesn't sound inviting, but it's really healthy to do, actually. 00:00:36.640 --> 00:00:44.159 Where we look at the world around us into our own hearts, into our lives, and we're reminded why we are waiting. 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:49.600 That there is a light, there's a restoration, there's a salvation, there's a resurrection coming. 00:00:49.920 --> 00:01:00.719 And like the last book of the Bible, last book of the New Testament, the book of Revelation, it ends with this longing, this call, come quickly, Lord Jesus. 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:09.680 This week I was talking with a friend, and they made the comment that we've really been waiting for Jesus a long time. 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:11.680 I don't know if that's ever occurred to you. 00:01:12.879 --> 00:01:15.120 And 2,000 years of waiting. 00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:24.480 And sometimes, if we're honest, at least in this conversation, my friend wondered out loud uh, is the waiting worth it? 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:30.159 There's so much going on in the world, there's so much going on in our own lives. 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:34.000 Sometimes we grow weary of the waiting. 00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:42.799 We go grow weary of what we see in the world, just the tumult and the turmoil, bad leadership, nations not getting along. 00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:57.519 Sometimes we grow weary of our own failures, how we let ourselves down, our families, our loved ones, and it's hard to wait, and it's hard to really look full-faced into the darkness. 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:06.400 But I would argue that this is exactly what Advent is for, and it is a gracious and a good invitation. 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:08.639 And it's it's an important question to ask. 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:10.000 It's the question of Advent. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:12.560 Is the waiting worth it? 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:16.639 I think that's the question behind our passage and what we're gonna dig into today. 00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:17.840 What are we waiting for? 00:02:17.919 --> 00:02:19.120 And how does it help us? 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:23.439 Not just the day that it is fulfilled, this waiting, but but today. 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:25.840 So let's jump back into our passage. 00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:27.840 Let's read verses one and two again. 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:32.240 Comfort, comfort, my people, says your God. 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:35.759 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:46.400 Cry to her that her warfare is ended, her iniquity pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:54.560 Our first point is that God comes to and speaks comfort to his people in the midst of distress. 00:02:55.759 --> 00:03:10.319 So this message, if you're unfamiliar with the Old Testament or this time of Isaiah, Isaiah was a prophet to the nation of Israel, actually to the southern part of Israel, the nation of Judah, when the nation of Israel split in two. 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:16.639 And this message, this prophecy from the Lord through Isaiah, is coming to God's people in exile. 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:20.560 They had been exiled to the nation of Babylon. 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:30.400 And similar to or echoing the ejection of Adam and Eve from the garden, God's people have been ejected from the promised land, from the city of David, Jerusalem. 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:32.159 The city has been sacked. 00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:36.080 The temple of Yahweh has been destroyed. 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:49.759 And this superpower of a nation, Babylon, has come through and taken kind of the cultural elite, those who are educated, away into Babylon as natural resources. 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:52.879 And God's people were wondering. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:58.879 They were questioning, they were asking, is the Lord still with us? 00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:05.360 Back in this time, in this in this day, war and nations, they each had their own God. 00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:12.240 And so war was really, it wasn't so much about this strong army against this strong army, it was this God versus that God. 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:23.279 And so when Israel was defeated and brought into exile, it specifically put into question the power of Yahweh, the power of God's people. 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:28.800 And we have whole swaths of the scriptures that came out of this period. 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:36.240 Psalms, the whole, the book of Lamentations, of God's people asking the question, has God left us? 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:38.720 Has he abandoned us? 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:43.920 Have we finally become the straw that broke the camel's back? 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:52.000 Have we sinned so much that he's finally turned his back on us? 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:58.160 Now there are some who find themselves in exile who are there because of their own sin, their own unfaithfulness. 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:03.600 But there are others who find themselves in exile who had remained faithful the whole time. 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:13.360 And so this message from or through Isaiah is a message to sinners and to those who are sinned against who are asking these questions. 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:15.839 And that's really good news because that's us. 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:24.959 Those of us in this room, at the very same time, we find ourselves as sinners, and also those who are sinned against. 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:27.519 And I love this passage. 00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:32.560 I love the beauty, the comfort that comes through it. 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:47.439 But it's important for us to remember that the beauty and comfort of this passage is met by the distress and the darkness and the suffering of the people to whom it comes. 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:52.240 And so we need to hear this same message of comfort. 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:55.680 And it comes right out of the gate, right from the very beginning. 00:05:57.199 --> 00:05:59.680 It repeats, comfort, comfort. 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:08.079 In Hebrew, they didn't have punctuation, they didn't have bold or underline, so they they just used repetition. 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:13.439 So to use a word twice was to severely emphasize this. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:18.079 This is the heart of God revealing itself to his people. 00:06:18.319 --> 00:06:23.199 Comfort, my heart towards you, is to bring you comfort. 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:24.800 But who? 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:25.759 Who is to be comforted? 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:30.720 Comfort, comfort, my people, says your God. 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:38.079 You see, God knows the hearts of his people, he knows the questions that they are asking, and he speaks a word of identity. 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:40.720 No, I haven't abandoned you. 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:45.199 I haven't forsaken you, and no, you haven't sinned your way out of my love. 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:50.240 You remain my people, and I remain your God. 00:06:50.959 --> 00:07:02.480 They are not alone, though they find themselves in a distant country and a foreign land, being oppressed and ruled over by pagans, but God is with them. 00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:04.480 And he brings this message of comfort. 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:05.600 But how will it come? 00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:08.639 That's that's what the rest of the passage is about. 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:10.240 Let's this brings us to point two. 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:14.480 Nothing will get in the way of God's coming to his people. 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:16.399 Let's look at verses three through five. 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:19.680 A voice cries, In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:22.959 Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:27.920 Every valley shall be lifted up, every mountain and hill made low. 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:37.680 The uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain, and the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. 00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:40.959 For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:49.279 When a king in this day would travel through his kingdom, right, it was a very different context, right? 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:54.480 Some 2,500 or 3,000 years ago, roads weren't really a thing yet, right? 00:07:54.560 --> 00:08:06.399 There were trading paths and ways people knew how to get from one way or the other, but it really wasn't until Rome became a powerful nation that permanent roads were really a thing. 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:13.600 And so when a king had to travel, roads had to be made, or current trading paths had to be shorn up. 00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:19.759 Maybe a bridge needed to be built, maybe some rocky or uh certain places needed to be cleared. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:21.839 And so that's what's going on here. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:22.959 The message is going out. 00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:28.959 The king is on the move, the king is coming to you, so let's prepare the way through the wilderness. 00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:40.240 But there's something different, there's something unique about the way this king is coming and the way he is being prepared, and that speaks to the uniqueness of this particular king. 00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:46.799 If there's a mountain in the way, this king doesn't go around the mountain. 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:49.360 The mountain goes away. 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:56.720 If there's a valley in the way, they don't go away or even through the valley, they fill it in. 00:08:57.120 --> 00:09:01.840 If there's a rocky or a rough place, it will be made smooth. 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:05.360 Now these are super natural things, right? 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:13.759 We barely have the technology to go through mountains, let alone to simply destroy them fully. 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:16.879 And yet that's exactly what is happening. 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:22.799 And the Lord is saying through Isaiah to his people, nothing will get in the way. 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:24.960 Nothing will delay me. 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:26.720 I am on my way. 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:29.440 Let's continue in verse six. 00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:33.039 A voice says, Cry, and I say, What shall I cry? 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:38.480 All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flowers of the field. 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:44.240 The grass withers and the flower fades when the breath of the Lord breathes, blows on it. 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:46.320 Surely the people are grass. 00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:52.080 The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord will stand forever. 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:58.399 Point three, God calls us to keep our eyes on Him rather than our circumstances. 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:02.399 Now, as we've already said, God's people have been through the ringer, right? 00:10:03.279 --> 00:10:09.279 They have acted in unfaithfulness, and yet they have truly experienced ruin. 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:20.399 Their homes destroyed, their loved ones killed, exiled to a foreign land, the temple of the Lord itself destroyed. 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:27.440 They're wondering, well, maybe Babylon and the Babylonian gods, maybe they were just too much for us. 00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:29.120 Too much for our God. 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:34.240 Maybe our circumstances are more than he can handle. 00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:39.200 And it's into this context in these questions the Lord speaks this word. 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:43.039 Surely the people are grass. 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:52.720 Doesn't matter if it's King Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, or Cyrus, the king of Persia, these literal superpowers, Egypt to the south. 00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:59.039 If you read through these Old Testament passages, you see this is constantly on Israel's heart. 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:02.399 They are anxiety, these other powers in the world. 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:07.200 And God says, these are just grass. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:11.600 The most powerful nations, the most powerful people in all the world. 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:12.879 They are nothing to me. 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:16.000 And it's not just that they come in one season and out another. 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:25.600 It says, when the breath of the Lord blows upon them, the Lord raises up and the Lord puts down. 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:30.559 And this is exactly what we see in the story as it unfolds in the Old Testament. 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:33.600 Specifically, the Lord speaks about Nebuchadnezzar, right? 00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:44.480 If you read the book of Daniel, God spoke to King Nebuchadnezzar, this foreign pagan king, and he said, You are a tool in my hand. 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:50.480 Though you think you are the most powerful human being on earth, and maybe humanly speaking, he was. 00:11:50.879 --> 00:12:00.000 But at one point the Lord makes Nebuchadnezzar go crazy, and he lives for weeks in the wilderness eating grass like a beast. 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:10.000 And later, when Persia conquered Babylon, God used King Cyrus of Persia to rebuild his temple. 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:21.200 God is saying to his people that though your circumstances look overwhelming, and humanly speaking, we are enslaved to our circumstances. 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:30.159 We don't often have the power to change our circumstances, though, as 21st century Westerners, we often think that we do. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:39.279 God says, your circumstances are too much for you, but they are not too much for me. 00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:45.519 One of my uh COVID hobbies, I don't know if you guys had COVID hobbies, is mountain biking. 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:46.559 There's me, there's proof. 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:47.679 There's my mountain bike. 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:50.320 It's me out in the woods taking a break. 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:53.600 I like to send pictures to Stacey to let her know I'm still alive. 00:12:53.840 --> 00:13:00.240 Um I have a I have a tendency to fall off cliff while I'm mountain biking. 00:13:00.399 --> 00:13:11.840 So one of the things I learned, one of the most important things that I continue to practice and try to remember is when you're you know you're going down these awesome mountain biking trails, right? 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:19.679 You're gonna go over big routes and big rocks, and there's obstacles in the way, and sometimes you're on the trail right next, like literally on a cliff. 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:23.919 And early in my mountain biking career, I did fall off a cliff. 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:28.000 It was kind of at a 45-degree angle though, so it was more of a tumbling. 00:13:28.559 --> 00:13:32.240 And Stacy came back like 10 minutes later and said, Where did you go? 00:13:32.559 --> 00:13:34.320 I said, I went down there. 00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:41.679 Um you go where you look. 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:43.600 You go where you're looking. 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:48.240 So if you're on that edge, I learned this as a kid too on a bicycle. 00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:52.240 You know, when you're like right on the edge of the sidewalk and you're like, oh no, no, no. 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:54.639 Well, you look right at the edge of the sidewalk. 00:13:54.799 --> 00:13:57.519 Well, that's a dumb thing to do because you go where you look. 00:13:57.840 --> 00:14:06.720 And so if there's roots in front of you or rocks or something you're afraid of, what you're actually supposed to do is look up, keep your head up, look down the trail, look where you want to go. 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:13.919 And then you trust your bike, you trust your tires, you trust your placement as you've been heading down the trail. 00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:18.559 And as soon as I learned this, I said, Oh, this is a sermon illustration. 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:24.000 I've been waiting months to use this sermon illustration, so here it is for you. 00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:32.080 Often we, when we get into difficult circumstances, we look, that's all we can see. 00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:38.639 We just stare at it and we try to figure out our way to get out of it, and and we can be overwhelmed by it. 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:45.039 And sometimes we go tumbling down a cliff because we are overcome with fear and we make poor choices. 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:56.399 But the scriptures tell us to keep our head up, to keep our eyes up and looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. 00:14:56.960 --> 00:15:16.799 Now it won't necessarily make our circumstances better or less painful or easier, but if we keep our eyes on Jesus, if we remember who He is, what His power is, just as God is saying here to Israel, yeah, Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon is a huge earthly power, but compared to me there, nothing. 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:19.600 And the same is true in your life, beloved. 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:32.960 Financially, relationally, vocationally, the struggles that we experience are real and true, and the Lord meets us in that suffering, and yet he says, Look to me, remember me. 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:37.600 All flesh and all circumstances are grass compared to me. 00:15:38.320 --> 00:15:39.919 Okay, let's keep going. 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:41.919 Verses 9 through 11. 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:51.440 Go up on the high mountain of Zion, herald of good news, lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news, lift it up, fear not. 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:54.159 Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God. 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:59.120 Behold, the Lord comes with might in his arm, and his arm rules for him. 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:03.200 Behold, his reward is with him, his recompense before him. 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:11.679 He will tend his flock like a shepherd, he will gather his lambs and his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those who are with young. 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:13.360 Fourth point. 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:27.840 I love the Lord of the Rings, the books, the movies, and everything else. 00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:34.159 Uh one of my favorite characters is Aragorn, played by uh Vigo Mortensen. 00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:42.320 Uh he is a king, he is a coming king, he is, well, there's lots of Christ figures in the Lord of the Rings, but he is one of them. 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:44.559 Uh, and he is the perfect king. 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:48.639 In battle, he is fierce, and no one can defeat him. 00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:55.440 But with those he loves and cares for, he is tender and close and gentle. 00:16:55.759 --> 00:17:01.840 And I have a huge man crush on this guy and this actor because of this part. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:05.440 Um, and uh, I don't mind telling you that. 00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:10.559 Um, but this is the picture of the coming king that Isaiah gives us. 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:14.400 Behold, Jerusalem, your king comes. 00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:17.759 He comes with righteous might. 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:21.680 His arm will rule for him. 00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:25.759 He will come and he will conquer our enemies. 00:17:25.920 --> 00:17:27.119 And he did, right? 00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:33.920 Jesus, the coming king, came and he defeated sin and death, our mortal and our greatest enemies. 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:35.440 And yet, how is he described? 00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:38.640 Like a shepherd, he will tend his flock. 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:42.880 He will gather his lambs and his arms, he will hold them close to his bosom. 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:46.319 I mean, this is intentional love language. 00:17:46.799 --> 00:17:50.319 Those who are with young, he will he will deal tenderly with them. 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:58.559 He knows your circumstances, he knows what surrounds you, and he knows how to care for you in those circumstances. 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:01.759 This is our king. 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:08.240 And this is how this promise was fulfilled in the coming of John the Baptist, right? 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:10.559 He said, This prophecy is about me. 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:16.319 I am the one in the wilderness proclaiming, make way in the wilderness, the way of our Lord. 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:18.000 And he pointed to Jesus. 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:22.160 And when Jesus came, he identified himself as the good shepherd. 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:29.839 The one who knows his sheep, calls his sheep, cares for his sheep, not one will be left behind. 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:44.720 Beloved, as we ask this question, ponder the question of what we're waiting for and whether that waiting is worth it, we are called, along with God's people of old, to remember God's faithfulness in generations past. 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:53.680 That these passages would come to glorious fulfillment. 00:18:53.920 --> 00:19:00.559 That just as Isaiah says, God's glory would be revealed to all flesh in the coming of Jesus. 00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:02.720 Nothing would stand in his way. 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:08.240 He would come in a way that they could never have imagined in the incarnation. 00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:13.680 That divinity would take on humanity and save us. 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:26.880 And so as we stand in a dark time, a dark time in the world, a dark time perhaps in our own lives, and we ponder the question, what are we waiting for? 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:28.640 And is it worth it? 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:31.920 God calls us to remember. 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:38.880 To remember his faithfulness again and again, his faithfulness in our own lives, his faithfulness in the past. 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:47.599 And to say, our God, though our circumstances are overwhelming and they are sometimes all we can see, he will be faithful. 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:57.839 And so let us walk like Israel back in this day, knowing that that day will come to fulfillment in Jesus' second Advent. 00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:01.039 I love this quote from Fleming Rutledge. 00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:04.160 If you've never read her, she has a book on Advent that's outstanding. 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:19.920 She says this the disappointment, brokenness, suffering, and pain that characterizes life in this present world is held in dynamic tension with the promise of future glory that is yet to come. 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:24.880 In that Advent tension, the church lives its life. 00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:26.960 That is where we live, beloved. 00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:31.200 The tension of the darkness that is and the promise of light to come. 00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:38.559 Did you notice in the passage that in the beginning, God's message goes through Isaiah to Jerusalem? 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:46.319 At the end of the passage, God's message goes to Jerusalem, but now Jerusalem is being called to go up on the mountain and to cry. 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:48.960 To shout to the cities of Judah. 00:20:49.599 --> 00:20:51.759 Beloved, that is our call. 00:20:52.720 --> 00:21:08.880 We who have been comforted, whom God has come to, now we are called to go up on the mountain and to proclaim the hope that we have to our neighbors, to our family members, to our friends, those who are struggling in the darkness and say the light is coming. 00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:11.200 Our God is faithful and true. 00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:15.599 Let's pray. 00:21:16.559 --> 00:21:20.319 Our Father and our God, we thank you for this incredible promise. 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:24.720 Lord, when we doubt, when we wonder, would you comfort us? 00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:31.200 Remind us of our identity as your people and your identity as our Father and our God. 00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:35.680 Allow us to wait patiently but expectantly. 00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:40.000 And we pray this for this advent and Christmas season in Jesus' name. 00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:40.720 Amen.